I hadn’t paid too much attention to the irony of the title when I went on in to this blog and I just thought it might just be some vague hippy blog. I also was quite relieved to have passed up reviewing a pink blog written by a Mum about her three kids. Anyway, I seem to have ended up with almost the direct polar opposite in terms of content – a nice hippy blog this isn’t.
The template is harmless enough and Blogspot blogs are looking so much nicer now that they have removed the Google Textad boxes from the top. I would almost go so far as to say they are now tasteful. This blog would be particularly tasteful if a) the sidebar wasn’t too wide and all the posts had been pushed down to the bottom (though to be fair I think it was our referral URL in the sidebar which caused this) and b) there was slightly less clutter in the sidebars generally. And also, I am never quite sure why Blogger profiles never actually reveal any information about the author. So the site could use a little tidying up, but generally it looks pretty good I guess.
As soon as I started reading the content I was made to laugh. This blog is generally funny through out, but the front page was hysterical. The author writes posts which are (generally) witty, controversial rants about her day to day life. She is from NYC and I guess she must be the blogging equivalent of Eminem – life is harsh and gritty, her posts are full of swearing and are politically incorrect and there is an underlying fierce intelligence throughout. As with Eminem though, this blog is not to be taken too seriously and not for the easily offended.
Having said that, it is certainly one of the most exciting, amusing blogs I have read for a long time and as it happens, I a big fan of our man Mathers. I don’t know how close the entries are to reality but whatever, she certainly tells a good story either way. Whilst there are a lot of acerbic tirades found within (which can get a bit wearing after a while) there are also some real gems too. As well as angry, she can also do interesting, sweet, caring and insightful. I read a fascinating article about the Calvin and Hobbes copyright being flouted, found out about her rather crazy family and read a post directly addressed to an ex who seems to be stalking her through her blog. A lot of the posts are very long, and there are loads of archives too so this blog needs a fair amount of time to get in to. I found some of the posts slightly inaccessible as well, due to the rather high number of American cultural references included which, being a Brit, went over my head a little. I got most of the music references found amongst the writing though, and they were appreciated.
This is one of the most rewarding, engaging blogs I have read in a long time. I have taken a few marks off because the site could use some work and I guess not everyone would like it, but I found the content to be as stimulating, funny and extreme as can be found anywhere.
Chicken Soup For the Vegan Soul